Patsy Clark Part 2
Patrick "Patsy" Clark, the man Birth through 1879
Patrick Clark was a mining millionaire. He made his fortune in mines from Canada to Mexico, in Washington, Idaho and Montana (Prager, 2006). He was considered "a leading figure in Spokane's social and financial elite class" (Video Producers Inc., 2006). There is so much more to Patsy's story than just a mansion that became a restaurant. Many Spokanites remember the mansion in it's various forms, but few know anything about the man (Richards, 2018).
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| (The Weekly Standard, 1841) |
1852 birth
Patsy Clark was born in Ireland on 17 March 1852. As the story goes, since this is St. Patrick's Day, his mother named him Patrick, but he preferred the informal "Patsy" (Alexander & Weiser-Alexander, 2010). He immigrated to New York in 1872. But before we get to that part of the story, let's look at something else.
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| (The Louisville Daily Courier, 1853) |
1845-1870 Short History of Irish Immigration
About 1845 to 1870, a wave of Irish immigrants arrived in Eastern Washington (Video Producers Inc., 2006). This next sentence should read like Rod Serling -- Imagine, if you will, their world. They were hungry because of the massive potato famine. They were in such poverty with people dying in the roads as they attempted to leave the area. They were then packed like sardines in a ship with minimal sanitation, and maximum illnesses. Conditions at home were that bad, that they were willing to leave their familiar home and their family to go off to a land where they could barely understand the language. They had to scrimp and save a small fortune to even afford the cost of a place on the ship (Richards, 2018). The common feelings towards the Irishman was contempt. Many times, as they looked for employment in the big eastern cities, they saw signs "No Irish Need Apply."
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| (Bulik, 2015) |
Patsy Clark, the immigrant
Patsy Clark did all of this. He traveled on a ship, landing in New York with probably very little money in his pockets. He was just 18 years old when he and his oldest brother James boarded the SS Marathon in 1870, with plans to continue on to the wilderness of the American West (Alexander & Weiser-Alexander, 2010), (Richards, 2018). It was considered a "coffin ship" which is defined as
The term 'coffin ship' is reserved for those that set sail during the Famine of the 1840s, often unseaworthy and uncrowded and nearly always with inadequate provisions of drinking water, food and sanitation (Santry, 2008-2020).
In another post, I find naturalization evidence indicting that Patrick Clark was aboard the SS City of London. I would love to compare proofs, I am curious to know where the SS Marathon came from. His naturalization records also indicate date of birth as 17 March 1852 in Belfast Ireland.
I found this information on the SS Marathon, which indicates it did make trips to New York in that time.
MARATHON 1860 -- (Swiggum & Kohli, 2009)
American West
Once he got to the American West, life was still not easy. The brothers started by living in Pennsylvania with their sister (Richards). This would be either Betsy Clark Casey or Mary Clark Harvey. I don't know exactly where in Pennsylvania they were, but much of it was coal mining country. It is ugly work, and many towns were made up of the Irish and the Lithuanians.
I found it must have been Bessie Clark Casey, as she is the only sister living and dying in Pennsylvania. She died in Philadelphia, so it is a good bet the brothers may have lived there for a time. You can find her death certificate on
Ancestry here.
Patsy then set off for a different kind of mining. He had to use hammer and augur, pounding day after day. "
Most miners worked very hard like this with perhaps nothing to show but for blisters on his calloused hands. Or, perhaps, he would earn riches if he worked for a larger mine. Miners like Patsy would pan for gold in freezing rivers. Patsy Clark learned from older miners and ended up doing quite well for himself." His descendant, John H. Richards would write that Patsy had better luck than the average prospecter ("The Life and Times of Patsy Clark: Mining Pioneer", 2018). This was most likely because Patsy paid attention to every detail, learning from older miners, and because of his quick wit and business acumen (Alexander & Weiser-Alexander, 2010). By the late 1800s, he'd made his fortune (Video Producers Inc., 2006), becoming something of a legend in his own time. "
He was one of the most widely known mining pioneers in the country ...." (Pettit, 2016). Richards indicates the brothers set off for California first.
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| (The Louisville Daily Courier, 1866) |
1870s
about
1872 -- Some time after this (it is difficult to get exact chronologies here, so forgive the slight jumping around), about 1872 or so, he set off for California. He most likely saw newspaper articles or heard rumors of the riches found in that area, and intended to make his fortune. It is certain he had heard of the hardships such as lack of water, of inadequate supplies, of men becoming lost or disoriented (Richards, 2018). Remember, this is mid 1800s, and there were no airplanes to fly on. To travel across the vast distances, one either bought a horse and gear, hired a wagon, rode a train or walked. How long would this have taken? According to Google Maps, that distance is 2800 miles. In a car, it would take over 1.5 days of straight automobile driving. Walking would take 39 days, not allowing for sleep and resting. So, this would probably be, what, three months of travel time by foot or wagon? I'm only guessing here.
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Down hole, double jacking, early 1800's
(Mrkich & Ottman, 2016) |
In
1876, he traveled to Butte, Montana and began working as foreman for Marcus Daly at the Alice Mine (Alexander & Weiser-Alexander, 2010). According to his descendant, John Richards, Clark and his brother did walk -- from Utah to Butte. [I am always pleased when my conjecture is proven right]. Apparently, Daly was very impressed by Clark's work ethics, and often drove him in his buckboard to town so Patsy could send money to family back home in Ireland. This helped bring his mother and all of his siblings to America by 1881 (Pettit, 2016). At some point, he worked with ex-Senator William Clark in Montana -- who is not a relative that I am able to determine (if you know otherwise, shoot me a comment either below or using the form on the right) (Alexander & Weiser-Alexander, 2010).
-- Clark was in the military, fighting in the Battle of Big Hole in the Nez Perce War, under Senator William A Clark -- I warned you there was a lot of jumping around, and inconsistent chronology. William Clark was the major in command, with General John Gibbon as commander in chief (Alexander & Weiser-Alexander, 2010).
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(Wikipedia -- Battle of the Big Hole, 2019)
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I checked on
Fold3.com for any information on military enlistment for Patrick Clark in either Montana or Washington, and found nothing. There were plenty of Patrick Clarks, but in other states, or with wrong birthdates. If you know where I can find proof, let me know.
I also searched on
Ancestry.com to no avail. I did find military enlistments with potential, but the place is wrong, or the occupation is wrong. If I can't be certain this man is my man, I cannot add it to his story. Sometimes, not getting an answer is actually part of the story, anyway.
Another update: I found newspaper accounts about the battle itself, and a couple show Patrick Clark was part of that campaign. I will write a post specifically about the Battle, from both perspectives. Stay tuned, subscribe to make sure you don't miss anything.
about
1879 -- about this time, we find Patsy Clark in Virginia City Nevada, working as the superintendent for the Comstock mines (Alexander & Weiser-Alexander, 2010).
For about $20,
you can purchase a 1911 Comstock mining certificate here
or you can get a
1900 Comstock certificate for about $70 here
BTW, I have no connection to the mining certificate sales. I stumbled on them and thought it would be very interesting if you want to see them.
For More Information
Check out what life is like during the mining boom
here from US History
Or mining technology in the 1
9th century from Online Nevada Encyclopedia
If you like what you see, be sure to subscribe, and consider supporting me on my patreon page
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Resources
Bulik, M. (2015, September 8). 1854: No Irish Need
Apply. Retrieved January 2020, from The New York Times: First Glimpse:
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/08/insider/1854-no-irish-need-apply.html
Mrkich, D., & Ottman, J. (2016, October 15). Hand
Drilling and Breaking Rock for Wilderness Trail Maintenance. Retrieved
January 26, 2020, from USDA Forest Service - Missoula Technology &
Development: https://www.fs.fed.us/t-d/pubs/htmlpubs/htm84232602/page06.htm
Pettit, S. (2016, August 10). Landmarks: Patsy Clark,
brother close in life and death. The Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington.
Retrieved January 2020, from
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2016/aug/10/landmarks-patsy-clark-brother-close-in-life-and-de/
Prager, M. (2006, November 10). Historic Patsy
Clark’s restored. Retrieved December 13, 2019, from The Spokesman-Review:
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2006/nov/10/historic-patsy-clarks-restored/
Swiggum, S., & Kohli, M. (2009, February 7). SHIP
DESCRIPTIONS - M. Retrieved January 2020, from The Ships List:
http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/descriptions/ShipsM.shtml
The Louisville Daily Courier. (1853, February 2). 1853
clip art, bookbinder. Retrieved March 17, 2017, from Newspapers.com:
newspapers.com
The Louisville Daily Courier. (1866, April 11). 1866
clip art, washing machine. Newspapers.com. Louisville, Kentucky.
Retrieved March 2017, from newspapers.com
The Weekly Standard. (1841, May 26). 1841 Clip Art,
train. Newspapers.com. Raleigh, North Carolina. Retrieved March 2017,
from newspapers.com
Video Producers Inc. (2006). Patsy Clark Mansion.
Retrieved December 13, 2019, from HauntedHouses.com:
https://web.archive.org/web/20070928151335/http://www.hauntedhouses.com/states/wa/patsy_clark_mansion.cfm
Wikipedia -- Battle of the Big Hole. (2019, November
12). Battle of the Big Hole. Retrieved January 25, 2020, from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Big_Hole
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